Definition of "sot"

sot

/sɒt/

noun
plural sots
1. (archaic) stupid person; fool
  Quotations
  Remember First to possess his books; for without them He's but a sot, as I am […]
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
  In Egypt oft has seen the Sot bow down, And reverence some deified Baboon.
  c. 1670-1680, John Oldham, The Eighth Satire of Monsieur Boileau, imitated
2. drunkard
  Quotations
  Every sign That calls the staring sots to nasty wine.
  1684, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Essay on Translated Verse
  Take a picture by Teniers, of sots quarrelling over their dice; it is an entirely clever picture; so clever that nothing in its kind has ever been done equal to it; but it is also an entirely base and evil picture.
  April 21, 1864, John Ruskin, "Traffic", Unto This Last and Other Writings, New York: Penguin (1997), p. 235
verb
third-person singular simple present sots, present participle sotting, simple past and past participle sotted
1. To drink until one becomes drunk
2. To stupefy; to infatuate; to besot.
  Quotations
  I hate to see a brave, bold fellow sotted.
  1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], (please specify the page number)